Carlton: After OSU raised questions, Brittney Griner and Baylor leave no doubt with dominant win in Big 12 title game

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Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer

Baylor Bears center Brittney Griner (42) blocks a shot from Iowa State Cyclones guard Nikki Moody (4) in the second half of play during the Big 12 Women's Basketball Championship game at the American Airlines Center in Dallas on March 11, 2013. Baylor Bears defeated the Iowa State Cyclones 75-47.

The confetti and the “We Are the Champions” music and the impromptu group dance moves still bring the magic after all these titles.

As they have done for pretty much two full seasons, No.1 Baylor and 6-8 Brittney Griner proved they can play at a level that no other women’s college basketball team can hope to match. Then they cut down the net and celebrated at the American Airlines Center after the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship.

“Winning never gets old, especially this one,” Griner said after the Lady Bears dissected Iowa State 75-47. “We definitely want to get this win. We wanted to celebrate, everybody did.

“Meant everything to us.”

The Lady Bears claimed their third consecutive conference tournament championship of the Griner era. The win assured Baylor (32-1) of the top seed when the NCAA Tournament field is announced next week.

Griner, the most outstanding player in the tournament, finished with 31 points, eight rebounds and five blocks in 32 minutes. She hit 14-of-17 shots overall. Sims added a remarkably efficient 20 points on just nine shots, drilling 4-of-5 3-pointers.

“Certainly Baylor played up to their No. 1 ranking,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “When Odyssey Sims and Brittney Griner go 21-of-26, I don’t think the Mavs could have won tonight.”

The championship was Baylor’s fifth in the Big 12 tournament, a conference record. All the titles have come since 2005. Baylor hasn’t lost to a Big 12 team since falling to Texas A&M in the 2011 NCAA regional at the AAC.

On Sunday, Oklahoma State had extended Baylor like few teams had this season, raising a few questions about the Lady Bears’ NCAA readiness in the process. Against Iowa State, Baylor left no doubt.

In between, coach Kim Mulkey sent a pointed message to her team.

The turnovers were bad, Mulkey knew. And her team’s defense was even worse.

So in film study, she didn’t pull any verbal punches, whether with Sims or senior Nae-Nae Hayden or anyone else.

“When they saw the film, it doesn’t take long to see a talented player go, 'Wow, I can’t cover that up.’ That slaps you right in the face when you see them not down in a stance, not in the passing lane and not helping the helper,” Mulkey said.

Baylor held Hallie Christopherson and Chelsea Poppins, Iowa State’s matching set of all-conference forwards, to seven points on a combined 2-of-11 shooting. Neither displayed the confidence they had shown earlier in the tournament.

At halftime, Griner had 23 points to Iowa State’s 13 and Baylor had a 28-point lead.

During one span of 7:13, Baylor outscored Iowa State 19-0, with the Cyclones committing eight turnovers and missing six shots in 14 possessions.

“We jumped on it from the start and never let up,” said Sims, a junior from Irving MacArthur.

Turning point? How about when Griner rebounded her own miss for a 7-6 lead just 2:48 into the game. Basically, the remainder of the first half was one big Baylor run.

Griner didn’t miss another shot in the half, finishing 11-of-12 from the field and dominating Iowa State’s post players, including 6-7 Anna Prins.

“I felt like she couldn’t miss tonight,” Prins said.

Even with the game decided, Mulkey provided a couple of energetic fist pumps when Sims buried a 3-pointer early in the second half.

“That’s a basketball team that does things very efficiently at both end of the floor,” Fennelly said. “That’s why they’re so dominating in so many ways.”

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